Gold rush for India, leave behind other countries in SAG

Dhaka: Swimmers led the gold rush as India bagged a rich haul of 33 medals, including 17 yellow metals, to leave other countries far behind on the ninth day of the 11th South Asian Games here today.

In a superlative show, Indians bagged 17 gold, 11 silver and four bronze, the most on any single day, as the total medal tally stood just one short of 100 with just two days left in the Games. India now have 57 gold, 28 silver and 14 bronze medals to rule the roost in the 12-day sporting extravaganza of the region. Pakistan are at a distant second with 48 medals (11 gold, 18 silver, 19 bronze) while hosts Bangladesh have eight gold, 12 silver and 36 bronze for the third place. Swimming sensation Veerdhawal Khade set two new meet records while GVA Puttaveerswami broke another to help India earn four gold, all the five silver medals at the National Swimming Complex at Mirpur. In athletics, Indians pocketed three gold, two silver and two bronze, including the men`s 200m win by Abdul Najeeb Qureshi to begin their campaign on a memorable note at the Bangabandhu National Stadium here. On penultimate day of shooting, India made two out of two as Tejaswini Muley was the star performer, clinching gold in 50m three position individual and team events at the National Shooting Complex range at Gulshan here. Indian wrestlers claimed all the three top honours up for grabs to begin their campaign with a bang. Pradeep Kumar (66kg), Rajeev Sharma (84kg) and Hitesh (120kg) won gold. At the north-eastern city of Sylhet, India bagged three gold and two bronze medals to open their tally in wushu. In taekwondo, India could not win a gold but Surender Bhandari (men`s 68kg) ensured a silver at the National Sports Council Gymnasium here. In handball and squash, India lost to arch rivals Pakistan to settle for silver medals. The only disappointment of the day came in golf individual section, where India could not get any medal. India had a calm start in athletics with Sri Lanka bagging top honours in 1500m men`s and 200m women`s races but then Qureshi reigned supreme in men`s 200m as India began their campaign with three gold, two silver and two bronze. In the first track and field event (1500m) of the day, Sri Lankan long distance runner Chaminda Wijekoon (4:10.01) pipped India`s Sunil Kumar (4:10.57) for gold. Another Lankan also clinched the bronze through P H Chamal (4:10.97). India had more disappointment in store and had to wait longer for the gold as Sri Lankan Chandrika Subakshini took the women`s 200m top place with a timing of 24.49s. Sri Lankans had a top two finish with Pramila Priyadarshini (24.63) finishing second. India had to settle for bronze through Jauna Murmu who clocked 24.87. But Qureshi brought smile back on Indians` face as he recorded his personal best of 21.16 sec in 200m for the first gold for the country in athletics. PTI